Sunday, March 29, 2009

Possible Explaination to Sluggishness!!

Just two seconds ago I joked around in my comments of my previous post stating that I might be able to blame my sluggishness on my possible anemia. I then checked my email and my friend who is in nursing school randomly wrote me and said that she's been reading my blog and it sounds like I might be anemic.

I participated in a random blood study last week and they drew my blood. I wasn't supposed to talk to them again until September. The nurse ended up calling me the next day and said my sodium and potassium levels are very low and that my hematocrit is low...around 30%. She suggested that I was anemic.

Well, I haven't been eating meat for the past month and a half and I don't ever eat potatoes (unless I'm at a funky hotel restaurant before a race) and I rarely eat bananas...but I thought I did put salt on every piece of food I ate and I always took S!Caps during races of marathon distance or longer (however, that's only once a month at the most). Hmm...

So anyway, I called my friend up (who had emailed me) and talked to her about anemia. She said that if you are anemic, you could be out of breath a lot more and become tired more easily and definitely feel a difference in your energy level.

I don't want to blame 100% of my sluggishness on anemia (that I may or may not have...Dr's visit to come) but it could definitely be a factor in the way I've been feeling lately. It sure would be awesome to start taking some supplements to get my electrolytes back up and then notice a difference.

2 comments:

Heather
said...

Wow, I hope you figure this all out before your race. It sounds like if you had an explanation, it might take a load off your mind. I wish you didn't have that bet, especially for your first time running the Boston.

You're right- I feel like I needed some kind of explanation as to why I'm running slow. I feel more confident after yesterday's run...so we'll keep our fingers crossed. I'm just going to try to really enjoy myself at Boston and not worry toooo much about my time!